Ode To Foods Of The Grand Old Dominion

Mixed Grill

April 11, 1991|By PRUE SALASKY Staff Writer

There's more to Virginia foods than ham and peanuts. At the FLAVA (Food and Libations Association of Virginia) specialty-food trade show in Richmond last month, products included traditional staples, sauces and preserves and novelty items like chocolate-flavored pasta.

More than 40 members of the 3-year-old marketing organization displayed their wares to 300-plus prospective buyers. Most of the companies represented started as "cottage industries" and, regardless of size, continue to be family owned and operated.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Wednesday, April 17, 1991. An article in the April 11 Food section incorrectly stated that Basse's Choice of Smithfield carried private label hams made by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons. The company's private label hams are from Gwaltney of Smithfield.

The story of 2-month-old OOTOS (an acronym for Out of the Ordinary Snacks, pronounced "ooh-toes") is typical of many FLAVA enterprises. Last fall, owners Jim and Nancy Bosket were looking for a pasta machine with the idea of entering the fresh pasta business. In their search, they discovered the market was glutted but that fried pasta was a possibility no retailer had tried.

"After doing french fries one night, we put some pasta in the oil," says Bosket, a former construction contractor. They liked the results and took samples to store-owner friends; their response persuaded them to pursue it.

"It's weird the way we fell into it. We started the business at New Year's, and it has been snowballing ever since," he says.

They fry fresh fettuccine and pasta spirals in canola oil and then flavor them in a variety of ways: Some are tossed with garlic and herbs; others with salt and vinegar; others with nacho cheese or apple-cinnamon. "They are strictly a snack food," Bosket says.

He's delighted with both the food business and with FLAVA. "We've just been overwhelmed by the help. Nobody has the identical product, so we're not in direct competition. It's really nice to be able to sit and talk to people in the same business."

Peter Holland IV of Virginia Beach, who was hawking his vinegar-based sauce and marinade at the next booth, was so taken with the Boskets' product that he's going to help the Culpeper couple market OOTOS in the eastern part of the state.

His own business is just a little over 1 year old. It got its start when he tried to replicate a favorite commercial barbecue sauce.

"A friend originally from North Carolina used to bring me barbecue sauce that I loved," he says. When the supply ran out, he copied the ingredients from the bottle and started adding things.

Holland came up with a spicier sauce that he then put in Mason jars and gave as Christmas presents. It wasn't long before he quit his career in retail clothing to devote himself full time to the manufacture and sale of Holland Sauce.

"I'm a one-man show," he says. "I think it might have nationwide appeal. Maybe it'll even educate Texans, who like thick sauce."

Another small family business, the Ashman Distributing Co., has been in business in Virginia Beach for four years. Its top seller, according to proprietor Katherine Ashman, is a House London Broil Sauce; and for the past two years, it has been successfully marketing Fuller's mustard, a condiment prized by diners at the former Phoebus eatery.

The latest addition to Ashman's four-product line, all made from old Virginia recipes, is Armbruster's Honey-Sesame Dressing. The recipe hails from Armbruster's Restaurant in Blackstone.

When the Armbrusters, the long-time owners, sold the restaurant to a couple from California, they took the recipe with them. Now the restaurant serves the dressing again - from bottles bought from Ashman.

June and Keith Gore at the Beach Smokehouse Inc. in Virginia Beach have kept their business in the family 11 years. Their enterprise specializes in smoked turkeys and seafood. Its strictly local products are smoked and peppered bluefish and tuna. (All the smoking is done over hickory. "People in Texas use mesquite because there's nothing else," says June Gore). Other fish used are mahi-mahi, salmon and Nile perch.

The couple are working on developing a smoked sausage line for an even more specialized market. Most of their sales are made through half a dozen catalogs offering Virginia goodies, including the year-old Basse's Choice Plantation Ltd. from Smithfield and the Virginia Country Gourmet.

Basse's Choice, run by Margaret Monette from the family estate, carries several private label items, including specially packaged hams and bacon from Sam Edwards, and seafood and turkeys from the Beach Smokehouse.

Other FLAVA members represented in their array of gourmet goodies are the Blue Crab Bay Co.'s seafood seasonings and spices and Buffalo Bob's barbecue sauce.